Campus digest

Some 40 students from 23 states and five countries attended a “Hello, friend” lunch in Gasson Hall 100. The gathering, organized by the Church in the 21st Century Center, revived a tradition established by the late William B. Neenan, SJ, longtime senior administrator, of hosting informal luncheons for students from regions west of the Mississippi. “I love Bostonians,” the Iowa native joked, “but there is a language barrier.” The 26th annual Pops on the Heights Barbara and Jim Cleary Scholarship Gala raised more than $13 million for student scholarships. Among the evening’s performers were philosophy and political science major Molly Cahill ’20, who sang “Someday, Somewhere,” from West Side Story (one of a number of bows to composer Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birthday), and Lionel Richie, H’86. Professor Marvin Kraus, who studies urban and transportation economics, finished 21st out of 105 players at the North American Scrabble Championship (intermediate division). His highest play involved the noun “zincate,” good for 110 points. The psychology department announced the introduction of a neuroscience major; the first resulting BS degrees will be awarded to the Class of 2020. Boston College ranked 16th nationally in a new U.S. News & World Report category, “Commitment to Undergraduate Teaching.” The wooded knoll situated across Thomas More Drive from the Chestnut Hill Reservoir and long fenced off is being developed into a public greenspace called the Pine Tree Preserve, in a joint partnership between the University and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, which owns the property. The four-acre pocket park will include paths, benches, and a small clearing at its center. Michael Davidson, SJ, was appointed director of the Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center. He succeeds Ines Maturana Sendoya, who accepted a position at Wellesley College. Four alumni joined the Board of Trustees: R. Nicholas Burns ’78, H’02, the Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government; Jonathan M. Rather ’82, a general partner at the private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe; Kendall Reid ’79, H’18, an award-winning documentary film producer; and Kevin Smart ’99, a managing director at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. A snapshot of 9,377 undergraduates currently enrolled shows a student body that is 53 percent female, 33 percent AHANA, and 8 percent international. Economics has the most majors (1,227); Massachusetts accounts for the greatest number of students (2,414); outside the northeast, California leads with 619. Nancy Netzer, director of the McMullen Museum and a professor of art history, was named a 2018 recipient of the Massachusetts Governor’s Award in the Humanities. Past recipients include surgeon and author Atul Gawande and state supreme court chief justice Margaret Marshall. Therapy dogs Joe, Spencer, and Juno visited the O’Neill Library reading room in October to hang out with students. Associate professor of history Cynthia Lynn Lyerly and Salem State University colleague Bethany Jay, Ph.D.’09, were awarded the American Historical Association’s 2018 James Harvey Robinson Prize for their 2016 book, Understanding and Teaching American Slavery. The Boston College Center for Christian-Jewish Learning named John R. “Jack” Miles its Corcoran Visiting Chair in Christian-Jewish Relations. A recipient of both MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships, Miles has written extensively on religion, politics, and culture in the New York Times, the Atlantic, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his 1996 book, God: A Biography. His latest book, God in the Qur’an, is being published this fall. Miles is organizing the Center’s 2019 Corcoran Chair Conference, to be titled “Merciful God, Punitive God: Interdisciplinary Reflection on Scriptural Warrants in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam,” scheduled for April 7–8. The Athletics Department announced a five-year strategic plan aimed at student-athlete formation, competitive excellence for the University’s 31 varsity teams, enhanced facilities, and increased engagement with fans. Support will come from a $150 million campaign called “Greater Heights: The Campaign for Boston College Athletics,” launched September 27. The Boston College Urban Catholic Teacher Corps, a program that combines a two-year practicum in Boston Catholic schools with master’s training at the Lynch School of Education, is piloting UCTC Micronesia, a comparable program at Xavier High School, on the seven-square-mile island of Weno. Arthur Lewbel, the Barbara A. and Patrick E. Roche Professor of Economics and an amateur juggler, has co-authored with engineer/juggler Jack Kalvan a new book that describes the pair’s efforts to determine the greatest number of objects that can be juggled by one person at one time. The current record is 11 balls (Lewbel managed eight, “when I was younger”). Their calculations, published in When Balls Collide: Understanding the Skill of Juggling, sets the number at 15.